Peter Davis (businessman)
| Sir Peter Davis | |
|---|---|
| Born |
23 December 1941 (age 75) Cheshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Title | Chairman of Sainsbury's |
| Term | 2000–2004 |
| Predecessor | Dino Adriano |
| Successor | Justin King |
Sir Peter John Davis (born 23 December 1941) is a British businessman, who was until June 2004, the chairman of J Sainsbury plc, which operates the UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's.
Davis was born in Cheshire on 23 December 1941, the son of John Stephen Davis and Adriaantje de Baat. He was educated at Shrewsbury School.
He worked for Sainsbury from 1976 to 1986 as marketing director and then assistant managing director. Between 1986 and 1994 he was chief executive and chairman of the publishing business Reed International and was involved in the merger with the Dutch scientific publisher Elsevier. He was chief executive of Prudential plc from 1995 having joined the company as a non-executive director. During this period, the company was condemned by the Treasury for mis-selling more pensions than any other firm. The Securities and Investments Board ordered the firm to retrain its entire sales staff, due to 'continuing and persistent breaches' of the standards of training for the sales force.
Davis was knighted in 1997 for services to training and industry. In 1997 he featured in the Prudential's television advertising campaign 'The Man from the Pru', built around the image of Davis as a friendly man advising on his customers' futures. In reality, Prudential staff were required to call him 'Mr Davis' when they met him.
He rejoined Sainsbury's on 1 March 2000 as Chief Executive Officer and implemented a £2bn investment in upgrading IT systems, distribution depots and stores. During his term Sainsbury's was demoted to third in the UK grocery market, behind Tesco and Asda. However, in his first two years he raised profits above target and delivered significant cost savings.
With the arrival of Justin King as CEO on 29 March 2004, Davis was promoted to chairman. He was due to step down in July 2005 (the appointment of Sir Ian Prosser, ex-Bass chairman, as his successor was aborted in February 2004), but in June 2004 he was forced to quit in the face of an impending shareholder revolt over his salary and bonuses. Investors were angered by a bonus share award of £2.4m in the face of the supermarket's drop in market share. Davis was succeeded by Philip Hampton.
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